Earth Island News

Six Young Champions of the Earth

The 2001 Brower Youth Awards

Earth
Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards to honor
environmental leader David R. Brower, who inspired generations of
environmentalists to administer CPR - Conservation, Preservation and
Restoration - to the Earth.

The first Brower Youth Awards were held in 2000, one month before
Dave's death at the age of 88. Each year, six recipients - aged 13 to
23 - are awarded a $3,000 cash prize in recognition of projects ranging
from campus organizing and habitat restoration to neighborhood
cleanups. And now, meet the winners.

Deland Chan, 16 New York, NYProtecting Manhattan's Last Forest. The traditional
definition of "environment" can be applied to New York City. There is a
delicate balance between the natural ecosystems and the man-made "urban
jungle," where the natural inhabitants - birds, animals and insects -
must coexist with seven million humans. The Roots and Shoots project of
the 92nd Street YMCA addressed the urban restoration of the Native
Species Garden in Inwood Hill Park (the last nine acres of natural
forest in Manhattan). The project also considered the impact of the
environment on New Yorkers, especially children who have grown up with
shades of pavement rather than shades of green.

The restoration of Inwood Hill Park is not yet complete but we
have achieved the immediate goal of enhancing the habitat for native
birds, butterflies and insects. The park flies in the face of
urbanization. A piece of untamed land that previously screamed
"neglect," now says, "We care!"

Angela Coryell, 19 Baring, WashingtonAn Oily Sky. Our film, "An Oily Sky," was a class project
about the pollution of the Skykomish River from fuel spills that have
been contaminating our soil and groundwater since the early 1900s.

Our film uncovered a problem that the railroad had been hiding.
For years, oil has been seeping from an ancient railroad storage site
located directly beneath our school. Our film is about the spill - its
history, hazards and what is and isn't being done about the problem.

In creating this film, we caused a stir. Some new cleanup ideas
have been discussed and decided upon because of our film, but little
work has yet been done. We won an award at the Young People's Film
Festival in Portland, Ore. and the Earth Heroes award for 2000.

Jared Duval, 18 Lebanon, New HampshireGreat Hollow Wetlands. The Great Hollow Wetlands/Hannaford
Supermarket project was an effort led by Students for a Sustainable
Future, an organization that I founded, to prevent the construction of
a 56,000 square-foot supermarket on wetlands adjacent to our school.

Walking around the proposed site, we saw many birds and deer
firsthand and uncovered the tracks of black bear and red-tailed fox.
Our campaign sought to preserve the wetlands not just for its scenic
characteristics, but also for its intrinsic value as a wildlife
habitat.

On May 14, the Lebanon Planning Board voted 4 to 3 to deny
Hannaford Supermarket's request for site plan approval. Hannaford has
appealed the decision, but for now we have won a major battle to save
Great Hollow Wetlands.

Robert Fish, 23 Bar Harbor, MaineMarkets Campaign. The Markets Campaign is a national effort to use market power to target retailers of old-growth/endangered forest products.

Our campaign staged a non-violent blockade of Wickes Lumber in
Bangor to protest its continued sale of lumber from International
Forests Products (InterFor), which is logging British Columbia's Great
Bear Rainforest - the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world.

After a year of work, College of the Atlantic became the first
college in the US to pass a comprehensive wood and paper procurement
policy. The policy calls on the college to purchase only 100-percent
post-consumer, recycled paper and wood that is certified as sustainably
harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council. This campaign has resulted in the permanent preservation of 20 pristine
rainforest valleys and logging deferrals in another 68 valleys in the
Great Bear Rainforest.

Heidi Iravani, 18 Charlotte, North CarolinaEndangered Forests Market Campaign. I have had two goals
regarding my involvement in forest protection - one as a community
organizer and the other as a national organizer. I began working on a
national level during my junior year of high school when I joined the
main planning committee of the Markets Campaign to protect old-growth
forests from the home development industry.

I was the main coordinator for the Southern actions in Atlanta,
Georgia, as well as one of the key media coordinators and spokespersons.

Our goal was to use market campaigns to raise awareness about
endangered forests and to build the environmental movement in
Charlotte. We "adopted" a local Staples store and targeted it with
direct action demonstrations that were covered on the evening news and
in the local newspapers. We also raised awareness through flyers,
postcards, teach-ins, call-ins and letter-writing. As a result, many
members of our community have made large contributions to the national
movement to protect forests from logging.

Grayson Schleppegrell, 13 Charleston, South CarolinaSwordfish Protection. I became captivated by the problem of
the overfishing of swordfish when I was in fifth grade. I began to work
with the Lowcountry office of Earth Force to convince local stores to
reduce or stop selling swordfish.

When I became president of the local Earth Force Youth Advisory
Board, I recruited and educated my friends so they could write letters
to restaurants and grocery stores. I continued writing letters and
emails worldwide asking companies for their cooperation. I rallied my
fellow students to do the same.

After asking my father about farmers being paid by the government
to allow their fields to lay fallow, I made the correlation between the
fields as the ocean and the crops as the fish. Working with several
other groups, my idea was presented to the US Congress where it was
eventually enacted. I took charge of the operation to buy out
long-liners. Three years after the school-based project ended, I am
still actively involved.

On October 27, Grayson's father, Charlie Schleppegrell, died at the
age of 46 from complications resulting from surgery. The Earth Island
community extends our deepest sympathies to Grayson and the entire
Schleppegrell family.